Wakka of Besaid. Do you solemnly swear to protect the Lady Summoner Yuna from any and all harm? Including not only your life for hers, but the lives of your fellow companions?
"Yes. I do." Wakka answered with his head held high at his confirming ceremony. The next day he would set on a journey to defeat sin along with his best friend Lulu, Kimari, and Yuna, his "younger sister."
These words fell on hollow ears. No way that would happen. Yuna would come to her senses before to long and they would all return to normal lives. His normal life…
SMACK! Intense pain snapped him back to the present. A hideous face glared at him as he instinctively grasped his cheek.
"Where is she?" the voice snarled, "Tell me!"
Summoning up his courage, Wakka dropped his arm and stared at him defiantly.
"I'll never tell you." He said around broken teeth. A punch to his stomach was his reward. Then again. And again. Bile flew from his mouth, pain surrounded him in a suffocating hold. They had been attacked while on Mt. Gagazet by Seymour and his croons. In a desperate act he and Lulu had fought side by side while the rest had hastened Yuna to safely. The result had been his capture. That had been four days ago. Four days of hellish torture as he was battered and pressed day and night for information to Yuna's whereabouts. He knew she was in hiding. He even knew where, but he would never tell them. He couldn't. Another smack across his face. Again the same question followed by promises of freedom and threats of demise. Looking him again in the face, Wakka let go a bloody loogie into his face. Hands wrapped around his throat, stopping his breathing.
"I'll kill you, you shit!" he yelled.
Gasping, Wakka tried to break free. Desperately he pride at his assailants locked fingers. Second went by, turning into minutes.
If it hadn't been for blitz ball training, I'd be dead by now. He thought lazily as his own strength began to weaken. Another minute. He felt his hands fall like lead to his sides of their own accord. He had no strength left. A surge of warmness ran down his legs as his bladder emptied, but he didn't care. He felt himself begin to drift, fully prepared to let go. They'd have nothing once he died.
"That's enough." A voice barked. Instantly the pressure released and Wakka pulled in gulps of air into his empty lungs. Finally he looked up to see who had spoken, and was somewhat thankful he had no more way to soil himself because of whom he saw. The blue-haired devil himself, Seymour. At that point Wakka knew he was about die. Seymour's eyes held the coldness of a killer.
"Don't kill him just yet." Seymour said in his quiet, ever-proper voice, "He still has information we need."
"I'll never tell you." Wakka trembled, his voice full of anger and hate.
"Oh, I think you may," Seymour replied cooly. "See, I know how it feels to love a woman. My heart longs for the warmth of Yuna's body as it sputters out the last of its life by my own hand."
"You're sick!" Wakka spat, "I'll never let you hurt her, ya? No matter what you do to me."
"Yes, what we do to you." Seymour replied coldy, "but what about what I do to her? Bring in the other prisoner!" He barked.
Wakka felt his blood run cold as she was wheeled in.
"No…" He whispered.
"Like I said," Seymour continued, "I know what its like to love a woman, and I wouldn't mind spilling this one's blood for her."
Wakka couldn't answer, couldn't think. There on the chair lay Lulu. Bruised and beaten like himself. She gave him a small smile. Jumping to his feet, Wakka tried to run to her, but was instantly reminded of his chained limbs when the pain cruelly stopped him.
"Lu!" He cried as he sank to his knees. Her arms hung awkwardly at her sides, viciously broken to render her useless. The pain was evident in her eyes, but still she gave him a smile through swollen lips.
"Let her go!" He barked.
" We will," Seymour said, "Once you tell us what we want to know. A trade, if you may. Her life for Yuna's."
For the first time utter hopelessness ransacked his body. He knew he couldn't, and Lu would hate him if he did.
"No?" Seymour said with a raised brow, "Then allow me to raise the stakes."
With one hand he withdrew a controller, and pushed a button. A low whine found his ears, and a second later he realized it was Lulu as spasms shook her body. A moment later they ceased.
"That was shock waves rampaging through your friend's body at level one. Shall we try level three?"
Wakka watched his friend wretch and puke. "You're a monster." He said barely audible.
"You're the one doing it, Wakka." Seymour replied, "just tell me and we'll stop. We'll give her a quick, painless death, as well as you. I'll free you from your guilt and give you both peace to live together in death. All it takes is a little help on your part."
All Wakka could do was stare, amazed at what this maniac was saying.
"You're insane, ya?" he whispered.
Seymour's eyes narrowed. A scream suddenly assaulted his ears and shook his very soul. Lulu's body convulsed in rapid falls, then again stopped. Complete silence followed, broken only by Lulu's gasps.
"I am growing weary of this." Seymour snapped, "Tell me where Yuna is, or I'll let her convulse until the flesh and muscle pull away from her bones! Or…" a wicked smile pulled at his lips. He turned to Lulu's trembling form. With one hand he forced her eyes to his, "you, my dear, could end this. Tell me and all pain will cease. You will find paradise with your lover here. You do love him, don't you? He loves you."
For a fleeting second, Wakka's eyes locked with hers, and he could see it was true. Her masked slipped off and he could see the love in her hazel eyes. Then the mask fell into place again.
"You'll never find her." She spoke coldly, "Not if you kill me, or if you kill him."
In anger Seymour pulled away. He turned and Wakka watched with big eyes as Seymour walked to him.
"Grab him!" he demanded his lackeys. Two men grabbed him by his arms and forced him up. He watched as Seymour grabbed one of their daggers and felt the pressure as it was pressed against his throat. Lulu let out a small laugh. Seymour's face reddened.
"You would laugh at his death?"
Lulu looked at Wakka as she addressed Seymour. Her voice was low, stoic. "Kill him if you must. I still won't tell you."
Cold as the words were, Wakka sensed the apology in them. Once again he was awed by her strength. Manic laughter drew their attention back to Seymour. With a thrust of his wrist, he tossed the knife away.
"I never expected you would." He replied finally, "In fact, I'd have been somewhat disappoint had you complied. Abruptly his laughter ceased. He turned cold eyes to Wakka. "I've known all along he'd be the weak link."
He pulled out the controller again.
"Release him!" he demanded. Instantly Wakka felt himself fall to the ground. "Tell me where she is!" Seymour screamed.
Wakka only stared at him, trying to be brave like Lulu. Seymour pushed the button. The screams and heart-wrenching thumping ensued once again.
"Tell me!" he screamed again.
Wakka shook his head. "No." He said defiantly.
Again the button was pushed. More intense convulsions enveloped his friend. Then stopped. Lulu's head lolled to one side. Blood trickled down her mouth from multiple bites to her lips and tongue, and what he assumed to be massive internal bleeding. Seymour didn't have to tell him that was the highest voltage.
Lulu's breathing came in gasps. Her end was near. He knew it, and he knew Lulu knew it. He looked at Seymour who stared at him expectantly, his finger on the trigger.
"She's dying, Wakka." he said matter of fact, as if he'd told him the weather. "Just tell me, and I'll end this. Just one phrase, Wakka."
Wakka stared into Lulu's fading eyes. She was losing her battle with consciousness.
"I'm sorry, Lulu." he said, tears filling his eyes, "please know I love you so much."
"Do what you need to do." She whispered.
With a nod, he turned cold eyes back to Seymour. Then he said the words he knew would be the last she'd hear in Spira from him.
"No matter what you do, I'll never tell you."
Seymour just stared at him for a few seconds. Then coldly said the words that sent shivers down his spine.
"So be it." aggressively he grabbed Wakka's hand into his strong grasp and forced it over the button.
"you killed her yourself." he seethed, then pressed down.
Wakka didn't fight him. He kept his eyes on Lulu. He at least owed her that much. On and on it went. The only sound came from Lulu's broken body. No screams. Her eyes rolled into her head, but still he watched. Finally Seymour released his hand, and Lulu slumped over. Whether she was dead or unconscious he didn't know. Disgustedly, Seymour threw away the controller.
"Release him." he said as he turned and walked away.
"Sir?" his followers asked. Wakka thought he also heard wrong. Seymour turned on his heels.
"I said, release him. Like a dog to vomit he will return to Yuna, and we will follow." he stared at Wakka again. "Unless he wants to be alone. I will have my wife back."
With that, he left. As soon as the chains on Wakka fell away, he ran to Lulu's side and released her, catching her collapsed form. Gingerly he felt for a pulse, expecting none. A tiny, weak beat answered back.
"Lu." he said quietly as he cuddled her close, "I'm so sorry."
What more could he say? There was nothing he could do to save her. He could only sit and listen until her wheezing stopped for good. Standing, he carried her body out of the prison. He didn't have the heart to leave her there. Outside he recognized himself to be deep in the old ruins of Zanerken. He laid her down against an old crumbled building that reminded himself of his heart. He had no where to go now. He couldn't go to Yuna, nor could he stomach going back to Besaid. To many memories would haunt him. He wondered what Yuna was doing. She probably thought they were both dead by now, killed on gagazet and buried by a snow storm. If she ever found out the truth, it would kill her.
Wakka knew he had only one choice: to live anonymously among the Al-behd. The people he believed to be heathens. No one would find him there. Although, to do so, he'd have to leave Lulu here to become another lost soul among thousands. The thought sickened him, but more so was the fact that he knew he had no choice. Silently, he lay his friend down and covered her with debris. No one would ever find her here. Tears stung his eyes at the thought. She'd wonder the planes of zanerken until a summoner defeated her angered form and gave her rest.
"Don't forget me, Lu." he whispered. Then, using dirt to cover his features, he left in search of the calm lands and Rinn. He would help him, a man who lost everything, start a new life, while "Wakka" lay buried beside his beloved, gone until a day when Sin was no more.